Top 5 Local Multiplayer games

I really love spending time playing video games locally with my family and friends in the same room, yes I'm talking about local multiplayer games.

It is one of our best gaming moments that brought us such a great games to play with addicting multiplayer modes that we never got so bored to play because it is fun to play with 2-4 players on the same TV and it has the greatest multiplayer matches for most of the game's genres such as shooters, sports, fighting and party games.
I know today's gaming had so much relying on online multiplayer where gamers playing against others through the online services, but still the local multiplayer does have a charm for us to gain our gaming experience to play games locally rather than just playing online.

I decided to make my favourite top 5 local multiplayer games that I really enjoyed playing with anyone.




5 - Rocket League

        



















Rocket League is a vehicular soccer games for PC, PS4 and XBONE, which both developed and published by Psyonix. It is a sequel to Psyonix's 2008 game called Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars for PS3 (via PS Store).

It was first released in 2015 for PS4 and PC, while it was later released the XBONE in 2016. It gained 18 millions players and sold 6 million sales after the releases is due to offering titles as free downloadable game for PS Plus members on release date to market the game and it had becoming most popular sport titles for modern gaming.

Rocket League is a fantastic arcade style sports game where you get to play as vehicular players to complete the match against their opponent, so it is a soccer game with vehicles that really got me attention to play because it features excellent gameplay controls where you can perform amazing trickstyle to learn and it has playable futuristic sports stadium with addictive game modes to play such as soccer mode which has a basic football net, hoops mode is where you have to bounce the ball into net, snowy day is where you play with hockey puck and rumble mode is where you can use with powerups and items during the match which is great for competitive multiplayer modes with 4-player splitscreen and online play.

The local multiplayer on this game is fun to play with 4-player offline, but you can also battle against the computer bots which is a great feature for both exhibition and season mode. This is definitely must play for the fans of the genres.



4 - WarioWare, Inc: Mega Party Games!

WarioWare, Inc: Mega Party Games! is a Minigame party game, which both developed and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Gamecube and it is a 2004 remake of  GBA 2003 game called WarioWare, Inc: Mega Microgames!

This game involves around the concept of bite-sized minigames which is known as microgames that lasts only few seconds. The game can only controlled with directional pad and single button, so a player must figure out what they are supposed to do, aided by a word or phrase that appears briefly, and clear the conditions within the time limit. The minigames has several of gameplay events such as shooting a certain numbers of targets, selecting a multiple choice answer, or simply surviving until the time has passed, so if the players made several of mistakes on each gameplay event then you will lose all of your lives which causing to end the game.

This game has the weirdest minigames to play with, but it is also one of the most enjoyable family game for the Nintendo system because it has many of wacky minigames events, funniest sense of humour and has multiple of multiplayer modes to enjoy that are very innovative and most entertaining game to play. I highly recommended to most of the casual audiences, who are into with family-friendly games genre, must play on the Gamecube.



3 - Saturn Bomberman

         

Saturn Bomberman is a action maze games by Hudson Soft for SEGA Saturn.

I really enjoyed playing this game because of amazing action-based maze gameplay and crazy multiplayer battles where they can blow up each other with tons of bombs.
What really made the game awesome is the multiplayer modes that supports up to 10-players on battle mode with 2 multi-taps adapter that made the game so much fun to play with 10 people in the same room.

The multiplayer modes has epic stages to select from and having up to 8 or 10 players is played on the widescreen arena, which shrinking the characters and blocks to tiny proportions and making the playing field very large is quite unique for the action maze style gameplay. It features excellent power-ups such as flame, bombs, speed, power glove and of course the best part of the game is each of dinosaurs can perform their special abilities such as ultrasonic waves, kick bombs, sprinting, roar and jump are the coolest things for the Bomberman series.  It's addicting, it's epic and it is definitely one of the best multiplayer game for the Saturn.



2 - Goldeneye 007

GoldenEye 007 is a FPS video game for Nintendo 64, which developed by Rare and published by Nintendo. It is based on the 1995 James Bond film called GoldenEye.

It was wide known for being a most important game in gaming history that defines the FPS genre as the game focuses on more realistic FPS style than the standard Doom-like approach. The game introduces single-player missions, newer gameplay mechanics such as ability to aim controls, stealth elements, and a console multiplayer deathmatch mode that made Goldeneye 007 successful in 1997 as being one of the best FPS game on N64 system and the third best-selling N64 game that sold over 8 million copies worldwide.

This multiplayer features several of playable characters from Bond universe, selectable weapons and playable stages to choose from, and it allows up to 2-4 player to complete against each other through 5 types of split-screen deathmatch modes such as normal which is a basic deathmatch can be played as free for all or working in teams, You Only Live Twice is where the players has only 2 lives left to survive, Licence to Kill is where the players can die by one hit with any weapons, The Man With the Golden Gun is where the golden gun, which is capable of killing opponents with only one shot, can be picked by one of the player and The Living Daylights is a flag-tag match where the flag is placed in the fixed location on the map and the player who holds it longer wins the match.

The gameplay on the multiplayer mode plays really well because it has fantastic map levels design, amazing weapons to use and excellent matches which are perfect for 4-players battle and it is by far one of my favourite multiplayer modes for FPS gaming.



1 - Super Smash Bros Brawl

         

















Super Smash Bros Brawl is a 2D Crossover Fighting Games for Nintendo Wii, which both developed and published by Nintendo and it is a sequel to one of the best-selling Nintendo Gamecube title called Super Smash Bros Melee.

I really love the smash series where you get to play as your favourite Nintendo roster from different franchise and it made me mind blowing to see how Nintendo developers made such a creative idea of making outstanding fighting game on the Nintendo system because I really love the previous Smash Bros games, but the Brawl is by far one of my favourite fighting game of all times.

It features playable roster such as Mario, Link, Samus, Yoshi, Pikachu, Fox, and of course the third-party characters that made me surprise like Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid) made a first debut for smash bros series. It has selectable stages from different franchise such as Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, F-Zero, Metroid and more.
It has excellent multiplayer mode to play such as brawl mode is a basic match where the player have to knock the opponent out of the screen, stamina mode is where player have to beat opponent until the health percentage goes zero, giant mode that turns players into giant-size., tiny mode that turns player into tiny-sized and sudden death mode is where players can get instant hit causing to fly off the screen.
It has simple gameplay controls, especially using with Nintendo Gamecube controller, which makes easier to learn fighting styles and featuring nice varieties of using weapons and items during the match. The players can able to collect smash ball which allows to perform instant finishing moves which is quite awesome and the each of fighting stages has so many of the crazy stuff like getting knocked over by vehicles from Mario Kart stage, touching lava pit from Metroid stage, changing level dimensions from Fire Emblem stage and some weird stuff from WarioWare stage which is quite clever.

Super Smash Bros Brawl is definitely one of my all time favourite local multiplayer games that everyone should able to enjoy their fighting game experience.



If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.

       
      

5 Reasons why Game Boy Advance is Awesome

Game Boy Advance is a 32-bit handheld console which is manufactured by Nintendo and it was first released at the launch of March 21st 2001 in Japan, while it was released 3 months later for the US and EU release. It is a successor of the two of the successful 8-bit handheld such as Game Boy and Game Boy Color from the 90's era. It was well known for having excellent varieties of game libraries, 32-bit graphics, using link cable for GBA multiplayer and Gamecube, and ability to play older GBC and GB games is what made GBA so great in early 2000's. It sold over 81.51 million units worldwide as being the most popular handheld systems of sixth generation console era.   

I really enjoyed playing many games on the handheld system where I can play anywhere in outside of my home, so that means I can take this system with me and play over to friend's house, holidays, buses and more places to play there. Game Boy Advance is a fantastic handheld system for my video game collection and I still have the two GBA's in my room, so I decided to make 5 reason why GBA is Awesome. 

1 - Games library 

GBA has many of the great game's titles to play. GBA was known for having memorable titles like Mario Kart Super Circuit, Sonic Advance, Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap, Wario Land 4, Fire Emblem, Metroid Fusion, Golden Sun, Advance Wars, Mario vs Donkey Kong, some Pokemon's titles and many of the excellent games that has impressive graphics, stunning soundtrack, great presentations and primitive gameplay style, so these are the games titles that really defines the GBA's hardware system.     

2 - Plays GB and GBC games

   

I still have the Game Boy Color in my late 90's just before I got the original GBA in around 2003. What made me so surprised about the GBA is the system can able to play older GB and GBC titles as backwards compatible which is sounds absolutely amazing that the newer console can able to play all the classic titles from the past, even the Sony did a same thing with the PS2 and PS3 consoles can able to play the older PS1 games libraries.

Backwards compatibility is the most useful things in the gaming that people, who owns the newer system that plays backwards compatible software, doesn't have to buy a older game console in order to play game. For example, if you have already have the GBA hardware that can play all of GB and GBC games then you won't need to get GB and GBC hardware in order to play these titles unless you're the video game collector that loves spending time collecting games and hardware consoles.

I really love spending time playing both classics GBC and GB games on my GBA hardware like Super Mario Land, Legend of Zelda: link's Awakening, Tetris, Contra, Castlevania Adventures, Street Fighter Alpha and Game and Watch Gallery 2 are really fun to play. 

3 - Link Cables 

Like the good old GB and GBC system that uses the local link cables that connects both handheld systems for multiplayer modes, Nintendo did a same thing with the GBA for some of the games titles that you can play up to 2 or 4-player modes. For example some games like Mario Kart Super Circuit, Sonic Advance, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Final Fight One, and some Pokemon titles like Ruby and Sapphire that features multiplayer modes which is quite awesome and what really surprised me the most is the Gamecube's GBA link Cable where you can plug GBA systems to the Gamecube systems, so you can use GBA systems as the second screen or separate controller for certain GC titles. For example some games like Metroid Prime for GC does have unlockable content which requires the Metroid Fusion for GBA and GC link cable to unlock content such as NES version of Metroid and Fusion Suit to use in Metroid Prime. Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for GC does have a transfer options in Chao's Garden, so you can able to store Chaos into the GBA's Chao's Garden from Sonic Advnace by using the GC link cable which is sounds pretty innovative for sixth generation console era.  

4 - Hardware models

   

The original GBA models was first released in 2001 and it is the most comfortable handheld system to hold. It has nice button layouts, classy handheld design and it has some great features like headphone jack where you can plug in with headphone and volume control to tune the volume level. Nintendo was later making another GBA models called GBA SP which was released in 2003 and it has flip-in clamshell where you can close the game down to protect the screen from dust and scratches. It has rechargeable lithium ion battery where you can charge it with AC adapter and it has the back-lit screen which has the back light on the screen, so the players can able to see the game properly while playing the game which seems to be lot easier than using the original models. The GBA Micro was released in 2005, which is the last model of the GBA's line. It's slightly look smaller than the previous GBA's models, but it's lacks several features such as backwards compatible and link cable ports which is quite shame for GBA owners, but it's quite cheaper to purchase the system. 

I really prefer the GBA SP lot better because it has back-lit screen and rechargeable battery, while the original models are comfortable to hold and headphone jack are seem pretty awesome, so I still have these two handheld systems in my home for long time. 

5 - Region Free

    

Like a classic GB and GBC hardware does allow every games titles from around the world to be played on the system, GBA are also region free which means you can able to play any of the US and Japanese software titles. It's pretty strange that Nintendo did put a region lock on their home consoles like NES, SNES, N64, GC, Wii and Wii U that prevents gamers playing games that brought from different countries. I was really surprised to see older handheld consoles that can play all of the games titles. For example I have the game called Wario Ware Twisted which never got released in EU, but it is one of my all time favourite GBA game that features lot of wacky mini-game modes, weird sense of humour, colorful graphics and creative gameplay that introduce gyroscope motion controls are very innovative for handheld systems. 

It is cool to collect some of the great exclusives games that never brought release outside of the Japan or the game that were also released in US, but not in EU.    

If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.  

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone. 

       

    

Transformers: Devastation PS4 Review

History of Transformers franchise:

Transformers is based on media franchise, which produced by american toy company Hasbro. When the franchise began in 1984, Transformers: Generation 1 is a first toyline series that involves toy robots that could change into an alternate form (such as cars, planes, monsters and etc.) by moving parts into other places and it was the first toyline series that becoming popular, which led the company's success shares with their comics series, animation series, feature films, novels and of course video game series. 

Transformers animation series was very popular among with fans in 1984. It is best known for excellent animations, great actions, decent story and it has memorable characters like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Ironhide and many more that made the animation series so awesome, and lets not forget Transformers the movie is one of the best feature animation films in 80's era.  The live action series was started in year 2007. The first four films were directed by Michael Bay, including original 2007's Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Transformers: Age of Extinction, which the film series has received mixed reception by critics praising for visual effects, action sequences, and music, but criticised for storyplot, humor, and lengths of the films, but the original 2007's film had received better overall than the rest of the sequels. The video game series does have shares with different titles such as games based on TV series, film series, and War of Cybertron series.  The War of Cybertron series had received slightly positive overall than the games based on film series and TV Series until the Transformers: devastation was released in 2015 and it received much higher praise for nostalgia, graphics and gameplay as being one of the only better game based on TV series.

Transformers: Devastation PS4 Review:

Transformers: Devastation is a action hack and slash game for PS4, PS3, XBONE, X360 and PC, which developed by Platinum Games and published by Activision.

My thoughts on Transformers series are pretty awesome because I loved the first animation series and featured animation film from the 80's era, but I felt the 2007's live-action series are pretty disappointing which didn't live up with my reputation and what does the video game titles based on the Transformers series is going to be like, well I wasn't the fan of the previous games back in the day until the Transformers: Devastation just got me so much attention and I really enjoyed it so far because I really loved the gameplay system, stunning graphics, decent storyplot, awesome characters and of course 80's nostalgia roots that just got the whole game right where it should be. I'm very glad that the game was developed by same team behind Madworld, Bayonetta and Vanquish because they know how to make a such quality hack and slash games to keep the game perfectly well balanced. Activision made a right choice of getting a decent developers to take part of the game's development which turns out really well on this game.          

Without go further do, let's talk about the game's overall.

Presentation

This event takes place in New York City, it's starts off with the city has been attacked by the groups of Decepticons went to look for plasma energy until the groups of Autobots came to rescue as their goal is to save the city and stop Megatron preventing to take over the earth and creating a new Cybertron. 

The story in the game are sounds quite well done as the game is also part of the Transformers: Generations line made the story quite impressive, but it may not have a proper backstory in the game would have been nice to include the background story from the original Transformers TV series, but still the rest of the storyplot in the game is quite pretty done decently. I also liked the looks of the cinematic cutscenes with fantastic visual design is just like the original Transformers TV series that brought out the nostalgia look of the game. It does have amazing heroes like Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Sidewipe and Grimlock, while it does have some awesome villains like Megatron, Soundwave and Starscream that makes the characters so memorable from the 80's era.

I'm very glad that this game sticks with the 80's nostalgia roots from the past that definitely puts Michael Bay's Transformers film series into shame. 

Overall, it has great story, memorable characters, and 80's nostalgia roots that just got the game right for Transformers franchise.

Gameplay

The gameplay focuses on mixed between third person shooter and action hack and slash perspective. You take control of playable Autobots characters to complete the mission objectives and defeating most of the decepticons. 

Your characters are able to use variety of ranged weapons, melee attacks and able to transform into vehicle mode at any time. The ranged weapons and melee weapons has available selection to choose from such as machineguns, grenade launcher, sniper rifle, flamethrower, sword, twin blades, hammers and etc. I finding the shooting range of each weapons are seems working well depending which weapons you're using for example; machineguns and sniper rifle are great for far distance range while flamethrower and grenade launcher are useful for higher damaging attacks. The melee attacks are very responsive and balanced which made the collision dections easier to attack the enemies for example; the sword, twin blades and fists are quite useful for fast paced close combat gameplay while hammer and other heavy melee weapons are better for higher damaging attacks which are perfect for use of combo system and fighting style techniques. You can also earn credits and gain new weapons by defeating enemies, destroying objects and clearing puzzles, so you can able to use credits to purchase new items, moves,weapons, and forge T.E.C.H. to improve stat boosts, synthesize weapons to make them stronger, or increase the stats of each Autobot from the mission options menu. Controlling the characters is pretty simple to use for character's movements and camera controls especially with controlling with the vehicle is seems working fine. The fighting controls is pretty responsive with no delays at all, it's easier for players to perform variety of fighting moves and the combo systems are pretty stunning which can increase the overall fighting performance will award you a highest rank on the each mission based. I also liked the dodging mechanics which activates focus allowing the players to slow down the enemies and performing counterattack their opponents which is quite awesome. I also liked the unique special ability and a powerful overdrive attack which allowing players to perform finishing moves if the energy bar is full. 

Despite having impressive combat gameplay and movement controls, the mission can be quite repetitive because it uses the similar mission objectives as the previous chapters which didn't add up enough with the variation of levels and enemies, but still it's plays very decent and has excellent battles in the game. I finding the game is quite too short because the game only takes about 3 or 4 hours to complete and it's a shame that there are no online or offline co-op mode would have been sounds awesome, but the single-player campaign are still quite enjoyable to play. 

Overall, it has impressive combat weapons, great fighting style, responsive controls and upgrading systems.

Graphics

I got to say the graphics is just like the original TV series, but contains nicely made visuals and fluid animations is just look so good on this game. The visuals are looking very colourful and detailed to make the game look closer to the 80's cartoon's styles that gives a game nostalgia feel. The use of the animations looks quite impressive for the character's design and level environments are fairly well designed and of course it has really has great use of the special effects in the game.

The levels design are slightly in the right shape without making the level look too small and narrow for bigger character's, so they did a good job of how they able to manage by keeping the design of the level balanced as possible. The actual game runs on much cleaner look of 1080p resolution for the PS4, XBONE and PC version, while the PS3 and X360 runs on 720p resolution is not as polished as the next gen consoles version, but the game runs on 60fps on whole pc and console platforms making the game more stable and playable, but I heard the XBONE version does have some frame rate drops on the performances compared with PS4 and PC version, but still it's plays fine.

Overall, it has nice visuals, colourful animation, great level environments and 80's cartoon style design. 

Music and Sounds 

                     

The whole soundtrack are absolutely sounds frigging epic on the title screen, cutscenes and in-game stages. It was composed by Vince DiCola, who are best known for his work on Transformers: The Movie and Rocky IV soundtracks, did a brilliant job of making stunning original score that really fits the game's presentations, while Tetsuya Shibata did a amazing job for making badass heavy metal score which increases the game's overall atmospheres that fits perfectly on fighting battle scenes.  

I really loved the sound effects of the classic 80's cartoons is because of the robotic sounds when they transformed into their different forms and the sound quality of the cutscenes, in-game and musics are very good with the home cinema speakers equipment and it has a original voice cast from the original Transformers TV series such as Peter Cullen, Dan Gilvezan, Michael Bell, Gregg Berger and Frank Welker did a fantastic job of voicing their characters in the game. 

Overall it has epic soundtrack, superb sound effects and outstanding voice acting. 

Special Features

This game has trophy achievements, downloadable content, unlockable galleries and challenge mode are the nice features to have it in the game.

Advantages

Focuses on 80's nostagla roots

Great story

Memorable characters

Decent combat gameplay

Very good graphics

Epic soundtrack

Outstanding voice actors

Disadvantages

Repetitive mission

Short-length campaign

Lack of online or offline co-op

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - Great story, memorable characters, and 80's nostalgia roots.

Gameplay 7.5/10 - Impressive combat weapons, great fighting style, responsive controls and upgrading systems.

Graphics 8/10 - Nice visuals, colourful animation, great level environments and 80's cartoon style design. 

Music and Sounds 9/10 - Epic soundtrack, superb sound effects and outstanding voice acting. 

Special Features 7/10 - Trophy achievements, downloadable content, unlockable galleries and challenge mode.

Overall 7.5/10 - This is definitely one of the better Transformers games in the series. The developers team did a great job of making the game quite stunning with decent gameplay, nice graphics, great storyplot and it focuses on original 80's roots is just gets the game right for the Transformers series, but it would have been nice if the game should have more chapters, better missions and adding co-op mode would have been sounds awesome, but still it is the enjoyable fast-paced action hack and slash game for the multiplatform consoles. 

If you're the fan of the Transformers series and Platinum Games's titles then go buy this game for cheaper price of less than £15.    

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Skip it

Rent it

Buy it

If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.  

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.

      

    

     

   

        

My Another 10 Christmas Wish List

Hello everyone, It's almost the day of Christmas that everyones loves spending time setting up their Christmas decoration & trees, preparing nice Christmas dinner for whole family, building up snowman outside of the house and getting nice gifts for their kids during a Christmas seasons.  

I've originally made my first 10 Christmas Wish List last year, so if you haven't seen my first ones from the last year then here's my link down below:

https://zeeshanmirzasblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/my-10-christmas-wish-list.html

I decided to make my another 10 Christmas Wish List that i'm planning to get these games for the Christmas holidays, so sit back and enjoy my 10 most wanted games for the Christmas. 

1 - Saturn Bomberman 

I really loved the Bomberman series so much. It's one of the Hudson's best video game series are known for amazing action-based maze gameplay, intense boss battles and crazy multiplayer battles where they can blow up each other with tons of bombs. 

Saturn Bomberman is concidered to be one of the best bomberman game for the Saturn which features excellent story modes which can be played on solo or teaming up with your friends on 2-player co-op. It has impressive maze levels, challenging gameplay, cool power-ups and wacky boss battles that made the game so awesome. What really made the game awesome is the multiplayer modes that supports up to 10-players on battle mode with 2 multi-taps adapter that made the game so much fun to play with 10 people in the same room. It's addicting, it's epic and it is definitely one of the best multiplayer game for the Saturn. 

2 - Megaman: The Wily Wars

                

Megaman series has the best games for the 2D run n gun genres by Capcom. Megaman: The Wily Wars is a video game compilation for SEGA Megadrive which features the remakes of the 3 classics Megaman games that are originally released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was released in cartridge format in Japan and PAL regions, while the US was available exclusivity on the SEGA Channel service along with games like Pulseman and Alien Soldier.

I'm very glad that Capcom did make a interesting 16-bit remakes based on classic NES game which features updated graphics, arranged music and providing save data (via battery back-up) which allows game to continue without using a password features. It still retains a same gameplay style as the NES version, but it features exclusive game mode called Wily Tower where the players must travel though 3 different stages against new bosses. 

It's a very interesting video game compilation for SEGA Megadrive, but it's a shame that the US version was never released with cartridge format unless you can get the game as the reproduction copies from Ebay in cheaper price. 

3 - Transformers: Devastation     

      

I heard of this game is mean't to be a better transformers games on the series. Activision has asked one of the best video game developers team, who are very known for having such an awesome games like Madworld, Bayonetta and Vanquish, to take part of the game's development and they just finally got the game right where it should be. Platinum Games did a such a great job on this game that focuses on 80's nostalgia roots, fast-paced combat gameplay and amazing presentation that really puts Michael Bay's Transformers games into shame.

I'm definitely wanted to get this game for PS4 because I'm hoping to look forward to play this game.

4 - Panzer Dragoon 

          

Back in the days, I remember playing Panzer Dragoon when I was a kid. It's one of the memorable 3D rail-shooter for SEGA Saturn. I was surprised with the game's presentation with outstanding story and excellent FMV cutscenes. It has great levels with variety of boss battles, awesome gameplay mechanics with very good rail-combat and 360 degrees field of view, gorgeous 3D graphics with well detailed backgrounds and environment, and of course it has the outstanding CD quality orchestrated music that fits the mood of the game. 

Panzer Dragoon was well received in 1995 by critics calling it best games of 1995 and it was followed by the 1996's prequel Panzer Dragoon 2: Zwei and 2 sequels such as 1998's Panzer Dragoon Saga and 2002's Panzer Dragoon Orta.

5 - Rock N Roll Racing 

             

Hey Metalheads and Rock N Rollers, remember the 16-bit hidden gems classic racing game called Rock N Roll Racing. Yep, it is a vehicular combat-based racing game for Super Nintendo, SEGA Megadrive/Genesis, and it was later re-released on Game Boy Advance. 

It's very similar to the NES racing game like R.C. Pro-AM that uses the isometric perspective, but features with kickass insane power-ups and hazard objects. This game features with impressive driving controls, excellent racing tracks, 2-players modes and of course it has the licensed rock and metal soundtracks, such as Black Sabbath - Paranoid, George Thorogood - Bad To The Bone, Deep Purple - Highway Star and Steppenwolf  - Born To Be Wild are being arranged by video game composer Tim Follins did a terrific job with these licensed music running on the 16-bit console. 

This is definitely must own racing titles for those who likes playing racing game genres and listening to rock and metal musics. 

6 - Pulseman 

Pulseman is a interesting 2D action-platform game for the SEGA Megadrive. Like I've mentioned Megaman: The Wily Wars, It was originally released with cartridge format only in Japan, while the US version was being released exclusivity on SEGA Channel service.

It was made by same developer teams called Game Freak, who are best known for Pokemon series, made such decent game for the SEGA Megadrive's library. It does have impressive futuristic looking levels, cool power-ups and badass Megaman character look-like protagonist that made the game look stunning for the SEGA's 16-bit hardware. The game was also re-released worldwide for the Wii on the Virtual Console service and you can also get the reproduction copies of the game from Ebay in cheaper price. 

7 - Freedom Wars      

Freedom Wars is a Third-Person Action RPG games for PS Vita. It's a shame that the PS Vita didn't hold up well with the hardware sales, but the handheld system does offer some of the greatest libraries of the games out there. Freedom Wars is a game that takes place in the distant future where the mankind is imprisoned in penal city-states known as Panopticons which wage war against one another, so you take a control of the character cooperating together to fight against enemies and contribute towards their Panopticon. 

This game has sold well in the Japan as being the second highest all-time opening sales for Vita software and it gained positive review from the critics calling it solid action RPG for PS Vita titles with enjoyable single player and multiplayer modes. 

This is game that I'm definitely give a worth try for my PS Vita because I really love the handheld system with great libraries of games to play.   

8 - Crash Team Racing

I've never played the original Crash Bandicoot games before, but I heard a lot of good things about these series. The franchise were known for unique levels, addicting gameplay, stunning visuals and memorable main protagonist that made the first Crash Bandicoot so remarkable for PS1 library and it has sold 6.8 million units worldwide. They later made the 2 sequels such as Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strike Back and Crash Bandicoot: Warped, as well a kart racing game titled Crash Team Racing for the PS1. 

Crash Team Racing is a Mario Kart clone racing game where it focuses on team of characters, who must race against the egomaniacal Nitros Oxide to save their planet from destruction. It has 5 selectable racing modes, 15 playable characters and 4-player modes with multi-tap adapter. It has similar Mario Kart vibe for the gameplay style which really fits for the kart racing game's genres. 

This game was praised for having rock-solid multiplayer modes, fluid gameplay controls and excellent visuals that defines the PS1.

9 - Life is Strange 

I've never played any of the graphic adventure games until this game got me attention. Life is Strange is a episodic graphic adventure games where you get to play as school photographer named Max who discovers her ability to rewind time to make her right choice. After having foreseen an approaching storm, Max must take on the responsibility to prevent it from destroying her town.  

The game focuses on third-person view gameplay where you can able to interact with objects and puzzle-solving. It has choices of dialogue options are used for conversations during the event, so choices in dialogue will alter and affect the story through short or long-term consequences and the character can also use the rewind time to redo any action that has been taken. 

The game does have interesting point and click gameplay style and the story presentation that made the game sounds very unique for the graphic adventure genres and it has won several video game awards for amazing storytelling, great narrative, stunning performance, and being best episodic adventure game which can lead the game achieved financial and commercial success. 

10 - The Last Guardian 

     

I'm quite impressed with the Team Ico's previous games like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus which I have played it on the PS3 as the remastered version. These are the best adventures games I've ever played because I loved the Ico for puzzle aspects of gameplay, outstanding art visuals, and perfect presentation with great storyplot and impressive characters, while Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favourite on the series for well designed open world environment, beautiful made graphics, stunning presentation, incredible soundtrack and great combat gameplay mechanics that made me enjoy the most epic action-adventure games of all time. 

Sony has first announced the game called The Last Guardian in 2009 which is mean't to be made for the PS3, but unfortunately it suffered several delays due to hardware difficulties which causing the creator Fumito Ueda and other Team Ico members to work on the PS4 instead. They finally got the game ready in 2016 release and it turns out to be really great game for PS4, but it wasn't well received as the previous game such as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus which receives much higher praise review, but they still say it is quite enjoyable exclusive game for PS4.

The Last Guardian is a action-adventure game where you take control of young boy who befriends a giant half-bird-half-mammal creature named Trico. It features similar actions to the gameplay in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus for young boy's platform mechanics such as ability to run, jump and climb. It can also interact with the big creature using its animal instincts to solve puzzles during the gameplay. I'm hoping to have a hands on with The last Guardian for PS4 because I really enjoyed the previous 2 games, so this is definitely be on my Christmas wish list.

If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions. 

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

      

             

  

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut PS4 Digital Download Review

Shantae: Risky's Revenge is a 2D platform game, which both developed and published by WayForward Technologies, and it is a sequel to 2002's game called Shantae for GBC. This game was originally released in between 2010 and 2011 for Nintendo DSi, and it was later ported to PC in 2014, then the PS4 and Wii U in between 2015 and 2016 as the Director's Cut, which features re-imagined warp system and new magic mode. 

I've never played the original Shantae for the GBC, but I heard a lot of great things about the game are considered to be a cult classics for the GBC according to video game critics and fans had given such higher praise for impressive graphics, quality sounds, larger exploration levels, and solid 2D gameplay that really shows off the GBC's hardware power.

I've bought the Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director Cuts from the PS Store on Cyber Monday sales for £5, which is a great value for me to purchase the game. So far, I really enjoyed playing this game because I'm quite impressed with the 2D metroidvania style gameplay with great exploration and amazing puzzles levels. I love the looks of 16-bit style graphics with nicer details of characters, well made levels design and it has decent look of visuals animation. The presentation has interesting storyplot to keep the story sounds incredible and of course Shantae is definitely one of the awesome female protagonist for the 2D platformer series. 

Without go further do, let's talk about the game's overall.

Presentation

The story takes place in Scuttle Town, Shantae and her friends went to annual relic hunters expo to see her Uncle called Mimic, who is relic hunter, has unveil his latest find an lamp, until Risky Boots crashes the expo and steals the lamp. After Shantae got knocked out in the battle against Risky Boots who got managed to escape, Mimic has reveals the news to Shantae about the three magic seals are allowing to release the lamp magic and she sets to find them to prevent Risky's plans. 

The story is much easier to follow because it has simple storyplot that made the game's presentation sounds interesting to watch during the cutscenes and I also loved the look of the slideshows with anime style characters design and I like the letterbox shaped dialogue are also easier to read. Most of the characters in the game are actually pretty good, like Shantae because she has really nice arabian outfit and long purple hair, I also liked the villain Risky Boots with pirates outfits and her pirate hat and the rest of the characters are looking quite amazing in the whole game. The each area in the game is looking magnificent with the towns, seasides, deserts, forrest, and dungeons are all well designed which really fits the game's presentations.   

Overall, the story is pretty straightforward, the characters are excellent, and well made level areas.

Gameplay

You take control of Shantae the half-genie to explore the whole areas in order to stop Risky's planning. 

Your main attack is her purple hair as whipping weapon and she also has magic spells that allows her to use ranged attacks. You can purchase the magic spells from the shop, such as fireball, pikeball and storm puff are quite a basic magic attacks, but you can also purchase a better ones like spitfire, flamethrower, super or mega pikeball and crush or mega puff which allows to perform higher damage attack to the enemies, but magic jams items are also required in order to purchase the updated magic spells and character's abilities, which magic jams items can be found somewhere in the area. Controlling Shantae is simple and easier to use because the character's movement feels much smoother and responsive while running, but you can also make her walk by holding the attack button. The whipping attack are also responsive with good hit detection on the enemies and objects, but you can also make her whipping abilities much faster by purchasing silky creme item which improves the whipping power and speed. You can also upgrade your character's health and magic meter by collecting heart holder that extends hearts and purchasing magic fill that slowly refills your magic meter automatically, but you can also use potion and magical vial which is a quickest way to increase your health and magic meter faster. Your character has ability to use transformation relics such as monkey that allows player to climb and jump on walls, the elephant are used for smashing rock to gain access to the secret levels and the mermaid are used for swimming under the water which is very useful for puzzle level aspects. 

The levels in the whole game are quite good for the exploration like searching for key to gain access to the next level, finding secrets inside the cave, collecting the important items to give someone, obtaining the new relics, and warping in different areas is kinda give a metroidvania style gameplay, which I kinda liked the idea how the game is played. I say the map area is okay, but at least they could have been made the overworld map design bit better, but that's okay to me. The boss battles are pretty decent to fight, but I finding the boss are quite overpowered which takes sometime to beat the boss during the battles.

The game is quite too short to beat the game, but if you want to go for the higher challenge then go for the magic mode which increases higher difficulty, so good luck for that.

Overall, it has solid controls, great range of attacks and magic, and stunning level exploration. 

Graphics

I really liked the look of the 16 bit style graphics. It has excellent character's design with impressive animations. The level environment has well detailed buildings in each areas and the background has stunning views of landscape and scenery. It does have some nice usage of colours and visuals effects to make the game look spectacular for 16 bit graphics. You can select any of screen options to stretch out the screen size such as 16:9, 4:3 with or without border and original size. I'm finding 16:9 size kinda looked bit stretched out, which doesn't look good with the 16:9 size. The original size looked pretty fine, but it's kinda looked too small for the HDTV,  but I always prefer to choose 4:3 size with or without border over the 16:9 and original size because the game looks better with the 4:3 size which is right for the screen resolution on the HDTV. 

Overall, it has excellent character's design, well detailed environment, and nice colours and visuals effects.    

Music and Sounds

I say this game has great arabian style soundtrack which fits the game's settings. It was composed by Jake Kaufman, who was known for composing music for Shovel Knight, Contra 4 and Ducktales: Remastered, did a fabulous job for making such incredible music in each levels. I really love the sound effects in the game which is quite good for the 16 bit style era. The developer teams did optimised the whole music and sounds well for the console ports from the original DSi version without making quality too thin or thick. 

Overall, it has awesome soundtrack and fabulous sound effects.    

Special Features

The director's cut do offer small things like new outfit costumes and new magic modes, but it has trophy support as well. There's not many unlockable stuff in the game, which they could have been added more newer features than this would have been nice too.  

Overall, it does offers the small things, but it needs to add more new content. 

Advantages

Straightforward storyplot

Impressive characters

Solid gameplay

Amazing exploration

Excellent graphics

Awesome soundtrack

Disadvantages

Short length single player

Overpowered boss characters

Not enough new special features

Final Verdict

Presentation 8/10 - Pretty straightforward storyplot, the characters are excellent, and well made level areas.

Gameplay 7.5/10 - Solid controls, great range of attacks and magic, and stunning level exploration.

Graphics 7.8/10 -  Excellent character's design, well detailed environment, and nice colours and visuals effects.

Music and Sounds 8.3/10 - Awesome soundtrack and fabulous sound effects.

Special Features 5/10 - Offers the small things, but it needs to add more new content.

Overall 7.5/10 - It is a really decent 2D platformer game for those who likes playing retro gaming. It has great story, amazing female protagonist, solid gameplay, amazing exploration, excellent graphics and awesome soundtrack that keeps the game so much entertaining. I'm very glad that the developer teams have bought the game to the PC, PS4 and Wii U, so if you're the fan of the 2D platformer genres then this is definitely must purchase from Steam Service, PS Store, and Nintendo eShop.  

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Skip it

Rent it

Buy it

If you like my recent blog, please hit like and comment below for further questions.  

This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.